All photos © Larry C. Price/Redux

Photojournalist Larry C. Price became interested in documenting child labor issues after working on several magazine stories in Africa and Central America. Price witnessed firsthand the plight of children in developing countries and is currently pursuing projects that can help expose exploitation and abuse.  In December of 2011, Price traveled to the Philippines to begin the first part of an ongoing project documenting child labor in gold mines.  The global rise in the price of gold has propelled an unprecedented demand for gold. The payoff is great and children, some as young as 4, are used to pan, haul ore and even work below ground. Working with an environmental group in the Philippines, Price was able to secure unprecedented access to remote regions of the Philippine gold fields where he saw children working with picks, hammers and their bare hands. “I was overwhelmed,” he says. “I knew the situation was grim but I wasn’t prepared to see how hard the children were expected to work. Some of the young ones were carrying 50-pound bags of ore.” Price wants to continue the project and is working on plans to travel to other child-labor hotspots in Asia and Africa this year. “This is one theme that is really difficult to get a lens on. But the camera really is the best way to tell this story,” Price explains.

-courtesy Larry C. Price

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All Photos © James Chance

In the center of the crowded Philippine capital of Manila, home to more than 11 million people, lies the North Cemetery. The final resting place of several Filipino Presidents, celebrities, and hundreds of thousands of the city’s Catholic dead, the cemetery is also home to a living community of over 2,000 people.

In a country where around 40 percent of people live below the poverty line, and overpopulation in Manila is reaching desperate proportions, the cemetery provides a unique residence for the hundreds of families that live and work within its walls. To see more of James’ work click here.

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